fracturarpg | [mingle] the space (january).

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[mingle] the space (january).

interim mingle

( WELCOME BACK, TRAVELERS. )

There's nothing but the clatter of train tracks, and the odd feeling of almost floating.

When you wake, it's hard to tell exactly what it is that you're missing - only that you are. There are pieces that aren't quite right, even if you're not sure where those pieces would normally be. Pieces of what, exactly....? Well, if you had to put a word to it, it would be - yourself, probably. Or did you get something back recently?

The place you've found yourself in is strange, certainly. It's probably worth exploring a bit. Though it just as easily seems that the only form of welcome or explanation that you have, comes from nothing more than a slab of marble. It might've changed since the last time you saw it.

You might have changed since the last time you saw yourself too - perhaps with a new emblem on your clothes, or a portrait on your skin.

There's no need to fret that much though. You've already gone through the ordeal once, and you might be able to see results from it. Even so, it's best that you don't get too comfortable, because there is still the unshakeable feeling:

There's still much more ahead of you.

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[ Wouldn't anyone stuffed in something try to get out?

Well, it's not like she can't understand the desperation to find someone important. ]

I'm sorry. [ Her apology is sincere. ] I haven't. She could be lucky and not stuck here anymore.

[ It's not like any of them understand how this place works at all. ]

If she knows you, she'd try to find you, too, wouldn't she?

... Yeah. She would.

[ Even if she wore herself down to a stump in the process. It's part of why he's been in such a panic; if they haven't found each other yet, then there must be something wrong with her. Without his hacking, he hasn't been able to perform maintenance on her, and she was already worse for the wear when she arrived. It's on him to find her...

But "lucky and not stuck here anymore" -- that's a thought. Maybe 2B's soul healed and her time here was finished. He would be happy with that, he really would. But there's a part of him that feels viciously lonely at the thought of her moving on without him, as if he was unnecessary in her healing process. Maybe being apart from him was the very thing that helped her. The possibility is a painful ache in his chest, especially when he feels like he might be breaking all the faster without her.

9S shakes his head and decides to change the subject. ]

Anyway, how've you been? What did you think of the whole Isle of Champions bit?

[ She smiles, and there's a little more warmth to it. Not for the topic, but she can hazard a guess on his thinking. It's not difficult to see he's earnest and fond of whoever he was looking for.

She would have driven her hand through much more snowmen if it could bring her sister back, if it could bring justice to her sister's death. ]

I'm all right. Seeing people assimilated was alarming. I... would hate to see that happen to myself. How is it for you?

[ Outside of his desperate search. ]

I don't like my memories being overwritten, short-term or not.

[ Not because of any protectiveness over his own life or mind, but because his memories are proof of 2B and the time they spent together. ]

... But I have to admit, it was a valuable glimpse into what human society was like. [ He looks up and around at the Space. ] Being here is one thing, but it's nothing like walking on a busy street or listening to a cheering crowd. It was the first time I actually thought humans were... fun.

What do you usually think of humans? [ ... ] Do you want to understand humans more? I'm afraid even with those weeks with more technology, I don't fully understand how you operate.

[ She folds her hands in front of her.

Give her android philosophy. Tell her how you have a soul. ]

[ No pressure, huh... No one has ever asked him these things, and so it takes him a second to pick apart the tangle that is his thoughts on humanity. ]

All of us androids were made to serve mankind. It's our whole reason for being. None of us had ever met a human, so you all seemed like... myths. Gods. We were proud to be made in your image. We gladly fought and died for you for over 6000 years. Some of us were more reverent than others, but every android hopes the best for humanity. It's how we were programmed.

I can't say how genuine my feelings are toward all of you when I hardly know you, but... of course I want to know more about you. How could I not?

[ There's a waver of emotion in his voice as his programming runs up against his feelings -- the desire to gather information and know humanity warring against a faint bitterness that his will isn't entirely his own, as well as a personal need to discard everything in favor of searching for 2B. ]

[ Six thousand years... there's something off, if humans became like myths or gods, if he doesn't really know what humans are really like, if they've never met the people they're protecting. Humanity should be saved. On the whole, people deserve happiness and to be safe, but Shinobu isn't so naive to think all humans are good. She knows they're not.

(Demons were once human even if they are no longer.)

Still, he's honest, and she can't hate him. ]

How could you not, you say... [ Her voice is soft, pensive, and she looks off into the distance at snow that hasn't been touched yet: white, pristine, pure. ]

I'm thankful that you're willing to help, that you want to know more, but I can't help but wonder if it's how you're made, can you change?

[ Does he have free will? She doesn't know his faint bitterness. ]

Change?

[ The thought of it gives him pause, because once again, it's nothing he's ever had to think of. As with all androids, he lives to function; he's most comfortable keeping to the path laid out for him. However frustrating that path might be, he would sooner think of shutting himself down than breaking free from it. ]

I'm afraid I don't see the point in trying to change something like that. Why would I want to change?

[ Robots deserve philosophical dilemmas, too. Shinobu doesn't mean to be contrary, not in this case. She only wants to know the capacity of an android. If they're made in the image of humans, how much like humans can they be?

Can he change for the better? Can he change for the worse? Will he remain as he always is? ]

You were desperate enough to destroy something pure and innocent to find someone you care about. Strong emotions like that can change someone. Is that something you're capable of? As you want to know more about us, so do I want to know more about you.

...

[ She's perceptive, he thinks. All he's done is put a hand through a silly little snowman, but she's gleaned more from it than anyone else here probably has about him. He thought it before, and he'll think it again: she's scary. ]

I've seen plenty of androids fall in love and go mad with grief. Strong emotions may not seem productive on the surface, but they create variability, and that's the key to progress.

So to answer your question: yeah. We're uploaded with personality data to start with, but any number of things might cause a shift in an android's outlook. Though there are probably some things about us that will never change, like how a kid will never stop being attached to its parents.

[ He's told her about how much he wants to serve humans, how much he's supposed to protect and idolize humans, but that snowman was most likely made by a human. Androids are made in the image of humans. Snowmen are also made in the image of humans. Two plus two is four in her mind. ]

If you can fall in love and if you can go mad with grief, you aren't so different from us. You don't need to put humans on pedestals. [ Even if he was probably made to think that way. ] You said you wanted to know us more. I think that's all you need to do. Get to know people and truly try to get along with them on the same level. I think that would benefit everyone. If your intentions are good, whatever change occurs... will be progress.

[ my little android: friendship is magic ]

[ Once again, 9S is struck with a sharp awareness of Shinobu's... human-ness. That unique, intangible quality that seems effortless in her, yet androids seem to lack. ]

That's kind of you to say... Though I'd argue that that kind of thinking is part of why you are so different from us. [ A beat, and then he adds: ] I mean that as a compliment, of course.

Anyway, I guess I'll give it a shot. Would you care to be my first case study?

Case study?

[ There's nothing threatening about her tone or demeanor, but he may want to expand on that. ]

You know, the first human I get to know better. Your family, history, likes and dislikes, all that. Tell me anything that's essential to know about you as a human.

[ Androids generally don't bother getting deep into each others' histories or ideologies, and trying to analyze individual humans like they were specimens to be dissected was considered sacrilegious in his time, so he still has to learn how to learn about humans. ]

[ Hmm... ]

I'm fine with that. I don't think it's natural to unload my entire life story on you at once, so we'll take it bit by bit. Will you do the same in return?

[ That's the road to friendship.

She's going to friendship 9S somehow even if it kills her or it kills him. Or one of them gets killed. ]

At home, I'm called the Insect Pillar, for how I fight. [ That's the simplest explanation unless 9S wants to ask follow up question for Breaths and all of that. ] My family consisted of my parents and my older sister. I have a younger sister who's not related by blood.

[ He nods to her question. It's only fair that this info exchange goes both ways. ]

If you have a nickname based on your fighting style, you must be pretty renowned, huh? Are you actually some kind of big shot like all the athletes at the Games?

My position is more well-known than I am personally. Pillars are the strongest of the Demon Slayers.

[ At the very least, they've defeated the most demons. ]

[ Yeah, he believes it. Scary women have so much power. ]

How did you get so strong? Was your family full of Demon Slayers too?

[ Strong... Her hands turn into fists under the cover of her haori. If only she could be stronger, perhaps she could do more. ]

My sister was one. Demon Slayers have to learn how to breathe a certain way to maximize their strength.

Huh.

[ Their breathing... Could it really make that much of a difference? ]

If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could I ask for a demonstration? I've never heard of special breathing for that kind of purpose.

[ She smiles. ]

I'm breathing that way right now. To become a pillar, you have to breathe like that at all times.

[ But she slows her breathing down and demonstrates: max intake of oxygen and all that.

you watched the anime i'm not explaining shit in the brackets I LOVE YOU ]

[ listen i tried to avoid asking for a verbal explanation for that very reason I'M DOING MY BEST

Anyway 9S watches all this very carefully, but he wasn't installed with spiritual shounen series sensors, so he can't really a discern a difference other than that her breathing seems very zen. ]

Sooo... if I asked you to, say, flip a car over, would you be able to do it with this breathing?

[ There's a noticeable pause. He hit one of her weak points. ]

The Stone Pillar would be able to. I can move a boulder, but moving a car is a little above my capabilities.

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